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issues vegan diet

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I was a vegan for three years and some change. I read this book about how our bodies were not made to consume any animal products—about how dairy was causing me to be constipated and causing mucus buildup, eggs were something my body literally rejected, and meat rotted inside of our intestines—and I was hooked on veganism. I also didn’t mind the drastic weight loss I experienced when I first became a vegan (it was really just because I didn’t know what to eat, so my refrigerator wasn’t stocked enough). I thought I’d be a vegan for life. I was certain there was no going back for me.

 

Today, I’m a full dairy-eating, meat-consuming, egg-gobbling individual. Veganism, it turned out, almost killed me. I’m sorry if that’s hard for some people to hear, but it did. I confirmed this was my physician. A vegan diet was so lacking in important nutrients, that my blood tests came back nearly toxic. That explained the insane headaches, muscle pains, fatigue, and depression I’d been experiencing.

 

I understand veganism has its merits. I’m not blind to the ethical and health reasons behind it. I mean hi, hello, I was a vegan for three years. I did see the light on many of the reasons people stop eating animal products. It was not easy for me to just flip a switch and stop being a vegan. I put a lot of thought into it, and I had to ease my body back into animal products slowly. But I did ultimately decide, without a doubt, that it was the right choice for me. I think everyone should be able to decide what’s best for their body. We seem to accept that surrounding things like birth control and abortion, so why not diet? Here’s why I stopped being a vegan, and how it saved my life.

issues vegan diet

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My nutrients were screwed

B12, zinc, protein—these are all nutrients that can be hard to get on a vegan diet. B12 exclusively exists in animal products—at least in a natural way. You can buy vegan products fortified with the stuff, but even then, they wouldn’t have naturally contained it. It had to be added. Zinc is another food that’s tough to find in plant-based foods. It exists in them, but you must eat massive quantities of the stuff to get enough zinc.

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